Saturday, February 21, 2015

It's Not Much, But It's A Start

Department of Education regulations
forcing colleges and universities to create pseudo-court systems to
handle campus sexual assault are interfering with schools' core mission
to educate, according to a bipartisan report from a task force for the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The report was designed to offer solutions for easing regulatory burdens on colleges, which have exploded in recent years.

One can argue whether "schools' core mission [is] to educate", based on any number of criteria, but the sentiment expressed above is certainly correct.

These new requirements are for colleges
and universities to adjudicate accusations of sexual assault — a
separate justice system that has been labeled a “kangaroo court” — which has led to lawsuits from both accusers and the accused that the system is biased.

The HELP report is careful to note that colleges should make their
institutions safe for students, but the way OCR has gone about doing so
has lacked transparency...

Those new standards lack any semblance of
basic due process. Accused students are not allowed to cross-examine
their accusers and are limited from providing exculpatory evidence.
Investigators lack professional training and the ability to subpoena
evidence. Neither party is allowed legal representation to speak on
their behalf at hearings. Further, young men are being expelled based on
little more than “he said/she said” accusations. And the most accusers
can expect from a “guilty” verdict is that their rapist will be kicked
off campus — not sent to jail.

Only in cases of campus rape do people think it's entirely OK to throw out all jurisprudence and convict someone based on an accusation. You have to wonder how people benefit from that, and what kind of people would accept that benefit if they acknowledge the cost.